Tag printing and numbering machine.



T. K. STAIVIATSON. TAG PRINTING AND NUMBERING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT- 28, I9I4.

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WITNESSES rHE COLUMBIA FLANDGRAPH c0., WASHINGTON. D. c.

T. K. STAMATSON.

TAG PRINTING AND NUMBERING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 28, 1914.

L1fifi3 11 u. Patented Apr. 25, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- A TTORIVEYS THE COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH co., WASHINGTON, D. L

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THOMAS K. STAMATSON, F FREEPORT, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 KELLER PRINTING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TAG PRINTING AND NUMBERING MACHINE.

1,1Mh331l.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 25, T9116.

Application filed October 28, 1914. Serial No. 868,940.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Tr-rorras K. STAMAT- 301v, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Freeport, county of Nassau, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tag Printing and Numbering Machines of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for use in printing the small tags used on clothing and the like to indicate the lot number. size serial. number, etc. Ordinarily the lot numbers have been printed by hand stamp or hand numbering machines and sometimes by the use of wheels of large diameter having consecutive numbers on the periphery thereof, but these methods are slow and the nunr bers are not always accurately and neatly placed on the tags.

The object I have had in mind is tov produce a machine of simple construction which can be operated at high speed and will print the lot numbers or other designation desired accurately and neatly on tags connected together or formed in continuous strips.

A further object is to have the machine feed the tag strip forward and accurately position the successive tags for the printing operation.

The machine is preferably adapted for use in connection with tags, tickets or the like. formed or printed in a continuous strip, the strip being perforated and notched on. the edges at the ends of successive tags so that they may readily be separated. In my machine such strips of tags are fed through the machine intermittently and the successive tags positioned by means cooperating with the notches in the edges of the strip.

in carrying out the above objects I have illustrated one form of the invention in the accompanying drawings; in which Figure 1 is a plan View; Fig. 2 a side elevation looking from the right side of the machine; Fig. 3 is a side elevation looking from the left side of the machine; Fig. t is a. cross section at 4+4: of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a plan view partly in section on the line 55 of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a sectional detail of the consecutive numbered printing head; Figs. 7 and '8 are end views of the consecutive numbering head; Figs. 9 and are details thereof taken on the line 9-1O of Fig. 6 and Fig. 11 shows a portion of the tag strip.

Referring to the drawings 1 represents the frame having a base 2 provided with holes for fastening the machine to a table or other suitable support. The frame is provided on one side with a plurality of projecting bosses 3 adapted to serve as bearings for a corresponding plurality of short shafts preferably arrangedin pairs one above the other. The upper shaft 4 of the right hand pair of shafts is provided on one end with a gear 5 and 011 the other end with a type head l? adapted to carry one or more lines of numeral type for printing the lot number on the, tags as hereinafter explained. The shaft 6 located below the shaft 4 is provided at one end with a gear wheel 7 and at the other end with a roller 8 adapted to be covered with resilient material, preferably a rubber band 23 which serves as a platen for the type head. Theframe 1 is also provided with an ear or extension 9 which serves as a bracket support for an ink roller 10 secured thereto by a bolt 11 upon which it is adapted to revolve. The type head 4. is preferably provided with two slots or pockets 12 spaced apart the required distance to print the lot numbers on the tags in the proper position. The lot numbers are set up in these pockets or slots and clamped in position by means of the set screws 14 substantially as shown in 1 and 4: of the drawings. Obviously with this arrangement it will be understood that the lot numbers may be changed at will. and readily removed or replaced. as desired. The ink roller 10 is adjustably mounted in a. slot in the bracket 9 so that it may readily be adjusted to contact with the type 13 when the shaft 4 is rotated. Extending from the frame 1 at the back of the machine as seen in Fig. 1 is a platform or shelf 15 provided with grooves or guides at 16 for the passage and guiding of the tag strip 1.7 on the tags of which it is desired to print the lot numbers. The guide thus formed is located be tween. the type head P and the roller 8 so as to carry the strip of tags over the latter as the strip is fed forward during the printing operation; the space between the type head and platen roller being such as to permit the type to press against the tags in order that printing may be done and the tag strip fed forward.

Preferably I have shown a second pair of shafts 18 and 19 to the left of the shafts 4L and 6 as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, the upper shaft 18 being provided with a type head which, in the present instance, is provided with the rotating type wheels 21 of a numbering machine for the purpose of printing consecutive numbers on the tags when so required. The lower shaft 19 is provided with a platen roller 22, similar to the platen roller 8 on the shaft 6. Preferably the two rollers 8 and 22 are each surrounded by an endless rubber band 23 which serves the double purpose of the re silient platen backing for the printing heads and also for feeding the tag strip forward as tags are printed. The shafts 18 and 19 are each provided with gears or pinions 2 1 and 25 which are of the same size as the pinions on the shafts 1 and 6 and are connected to rotate simultaneously therewith by means of an idler gear 26 loosely mounted on a boss 27 extending laterally from the upright portion of the frame 1. The gear 26 is adapted to mesh with the gears 25 and 7 substantially as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings. A bracket 9, similar to the bracket 9, is providedfor supporting an ink roller 28 adjustably secured thereto at 29 so that the ink roller may be suitably brought into contact with the printing faces of the type wheels 21 on the printing head 20. The ink rollers 10 and 28 may carry inks of different colors if desired and by means of their slotted mounting on the respective brackets 9 and 9 they may be readily removed for the substitution of other colors or exchanged as desired.

The guide table 15 preferably extends across the width or length of the machine in the direction of feed of the tags, which is transversely of the shafts and between type heads and the platen rollers as previously explained. The table 15 is adapted therefore to guide the tag strips 17 under both printing heads so that each may give its respective impression'on the tags as they pass through the machine. The printing heads are spaced apart a suitable distance,

which in the present instance is a multiple of the length of the tag, so that two tags are printed simultaneously one by the printing head 4? and the other by the printing head 20 In this way the different designating numbers, such as the lot numbers which are placed in the spaces 17 and 17", are printed first by the type head 4 while the consecutive number is placed in a space 17 when the tag passes under the printing head 20. By this method tags may be printed rapidly and the two different classes of numbers printed with different colored inks when desired. The several shafts and gears, being intermeshed to revolve simultaneously, it will be understood I that if a crank handle be attached to one of them and turned all of the shafts and gears will turn simultaneously as required, but to multiply the speed I have shown a crank handle 30 secured to a large gear 31 pivoted at 32 to an extension arm 33 on the frame 1 of the machine, the gear 31 being adapted to mesh with the smaller gear or pinion 25 so as to rotate the entire train 1' of gears and the plurality of shafts in the manner indicated. The consecutive numbering type head 20 is shown in detail in Figs. ('3, 7, 8 and 9 and comprises the two type wheels 21, each carrying type from 0 to 9 I".

inclusive, the wheels being provided on one side thereof with ratchet wheels 3 1 each having ten teeth and adapted to feed the respective wheels forward step by step a tooth at a time so as to present the type faces of the digits to the tags in succession. The arrangement is such that the units type wheel must be turned ten points before the tens wheel is turned one point to bring the next tens digit into printing position. This 1 This bracket 35 is provided with an ec- Y5 centric cam groove 36 in which a roller 37 is adapted to travel, the roller 37 being supported upon a pintle 3S projecting outward from the end of the head 20 through a slot 20 therein. The pintle 38 is carried 1517" by a slide block 39 which is mounted for radial reciprocation in suitable slide grooves in the type head substantially as indicated in Figs. (5, 7 and 8 of the drawings. This slide block 39 has a pin to projecting there- 1 7 from on the side opposite the pintle 38. The pin i0 is adapted to reciprocate an arm 41 pivoted on the shaft :12. The arm il-l, carries a pawl 13 adapted to operate on the ratchet wheel 31 of the units type wheel 71 substantially shown in Figs. 9 and 1.0 of the drawings. This arrangement it will be understood is adapted to reciprocate the pawl 43 circumferentially once during each rotation of the type head 20 and thereby 5 advance the units type wheel one step for each tag printed thereby presenting consecutive numbers to be printed on the consecutive tags as they are fed through the machine.

15 for properly positioning and holding the type wheel during the operation of the machine.

The tags are preferably printed or formed in a continuous strip, the respective tags being separable by preference as indicated in Fig. 11 of the drawing and the edges of the strip being notched at 17 by removing the corners of the adjacent tags. This V- A spring pawl 44 is also mounted I n the head and held in position by Spring.

shaped notch is utilized in the present machine to center or position the tags so that the lot numbers or other characters to be printed thereon may be impressed uniformly in the proper position relative to the successive tags. This is accomplished by providing the table 15, of the machine with a pair of V-shaped heads 46 adapted to fit into the notch 17 in the strip of tags and located at a distance apart equivalent to a multiple of the length of a tag so that one will stand opposite each of the printing heads as shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 4t of the drawings. This V-shaped head 46 is preferably provided with a rod or shank 4-7 having on the ends thereof lock nuts 48 for adjusting the inward projection of the V- shaped heads as, the heads being forced inward preferably by springs 49 as indicated in Fig. 4 of the drawing. hen the V- shaped heads 4:6 are in the notches 17 of the tag strip the strip will be held from forward advancement and in the proper position to receive the type impression; but since the tag strip is fed forward simultaneously with the printing operation the V-shaped heads should be automatically removed during this operation. This is accomplished by providing the outer surfaces of the rollers 22 and 8 respectively with cam blocks 50 which are adapted to contact with the respective V-shaped blocks 46 and lift the same out of the notches 17 of the tag strip during the advance movement of the strip.

The operation of the machine should be readily understood from the above descrip tion, but to review, it will be seen that by inserting a strip of tags 17 in the guide 16 of the table and turning the handle of the machine the type heads and platen rollers will be simultaneously rotated in the same direction and the lot numbers will be printed in the spaces 17, 17 of the tags as they pass under the type head 4%. When the tag strip reaches the printing head 20 the consecutive numbers will be printed in the space 17 substantially as indicated in Figs. 1 and 11 of the drawings. During this operation the cam blocks at each revolution of the printing heads lift the V- shaped positioning members 4-6 out of the notches 17 of the tag strip so that the strip during the printing operation will be fed forward and as soon as the cam blocks 50 have passed the V-shaped members 46 the same will be forced inward by the springs l8 and, settling in the notches 17", will again position the tag strip and hold it until type heads again come around to print the next pair of tags.

It will be understood that I have illustrated one form of my device and that various modifications in the specific details thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. In a machine of the character described the combination with a supporting frame of a pair of printing rollers spaced apart and simultaneously driven, one of said rollers being provided with two rows of lot numher type and the other roller with consecutive numbering wheels, the relation between the rollers and type being such that the consecutive numbers are printed on a line between the two rows of lot numbers and independent means for inking each printing roller.

2. In a machine of the character described the combination with a supporting frame of a pair of printing rollers spaced apart and simultaneously driven, consecutive numbering wheels on one of said rollers, means for intermittently feeding a strip of tags under said rollers and means operative when said strip of tags is stationary for changing the consecutive numbering wheels.

3. In a machine of the character described the combination with a supporting frame of a pair of printing rollers spaced apart. means for intermittently feeding a strip of tags under said rollers, said rollers being adapted to print simultaneously upon separate tags during movement of said strip of tags, consecutive numbering wheels on one of said rollers and means operative when the tag strip is stationary for changing the consecutive numbering wheels.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS K. STAMATSON.

Vitnesses:

JOHN A. FERGUSON, M. H. LOCKWOOD.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

